Emma boarded their ship. Roman grabbed her hand and pulled her up amidst a rampage of rocking from the turbulent sea.
The waves violently crashed into the island and ship alike and water flooded the ship's hull faster than it could flow through the holes cut by Timi.
Speaking of Timi, the raggedy man was nowhere to be found. Most likely locked in combat with the Scarab, unable to flee from paranoia that the Scarab would target the ship next.
Without direction or orders to follow, Roman and Emma waited on the ship. They ran across the hull dumping water overboard, trying to maintain the ship's ability to float.
Another flash of light illuminated the sky. Looking out at the island, Emma watched as a blast of energy ripped into the mountain once more.
The trees rattled and the ocean shook, but none of it compared to the sound. An extremely loud vibration traveled through the island, like the world itself was shaking from the Scarab's plight.
The beam vanished, but a subtle green light remained in the sky. The green spark expanded, forming a complex array of runes against the dark sky.
It started with a base circle, but quickly became so much more. A circle encased in a triangle, held together by a square adorned with spikes, each spike holding up a smaller circle.
The formula grew far larger than Timi, occupying a significant portion of the sky. It was so large that Emma and Roman could see the individual pieces of the array from the other side of the island.
The array collapsed, its entirety sucked into the choice words Timi wrote in its center, words Emma and Roman couldn't read even if they tried. Timi's body suddenly glowed as it absorbed whatever energy the array released.
Floating in the air, Timi, who was nothing more than a spark of green light in Emma's eyes, suddenly plummeted. A streak of light followed behind him as he flew straight towards the Scarab.
The spark disappeared behind the toppled mountain, followed by multiple smaller bursts of light. Streaks of energy cut into the mountain and split the storm clouds, explosions rattled the earth, and one final beam coated the sky.
An explosion of light erupted above the pieces of mountain and essence scattered in the air before it was collectively pulled into Timi's soul core. In a few short moments, the island returned to normal.
The mountain had collapsed, a canyon split the island in two, and the shore sunk deep beneath the sea. Even then, the only sound to reach Emma's ears was the crashing of rain against the sea and shore alike.
The ship continued to rock and the storm continued to rage. While waiting for Timi, Emma expanded her soul core.
[Soul Rank: Enlightened]
[Soul Saturation: 928/5000]
[Soul Essence: 112/300]
[Gift: Boost]
[Description: Freely multiply targets velocity]
[Enhancement: Boost can be applied to self]
[Ability: Return to Sender]
[Relics: Chosen Soldiers Spontoon, Corrupted Carapace]
Emma's focus stopped on the Corrupted Carapace. Even though it dwelled within her soul, the relic remained corrupted. What rank was Corrupted?
In terms of soul saturation, Corrupted creatures rewarded four times the saturation versus its Chosen counterparts, were relics the same? Was a Corrupted relic four times as powerful as a Chosen relic?
Emma inspected the relic further.
[Corrupted Carapace Description: Abandoned, discarded, forgotten, **** was banished from the higher realm, sentenced to four lifetimes imprisonment in the depths of the lower realm. Fueled by anger, resentment, and pride, **** tore down the lower realm and built his arsenal from the blood of its inhabitants.]
[Corrupted Carapace Enhancement: Blood increases defense, but may pull him from his slumber]
[Corrupted Carapace Ability: ****'s Rage
[****'s Rage: Sacrifice control for power]
Emma studied her relic, but it was awfully vague. Why was the name blurred but the context rich? What was the lower realm? Did that mean this was the higher realm?
And why was the ability description only four words? What did sacrificing control for power even mean and how does she activate it, with blood?
Emma was overjoyed to receive another relic, but after reading into its properties, the relic felt off somehow. Probably having something to do with its corrupted nature.
Either way, Emma was pleased to have something new and was even happier to have something she could use for protection.
Meanwhile, Timi finally arrived at the ship. He climbed the ladder built on the side and jumped onto the hull, splashing in a thin puddle of water.
"That was unexpected—" He said, "how are you guys doing?"
"Been better." Emma shrugged, recreating her guard against Timi, curious as to how someone so powerful was stranded on an island.
"What rank are you?" Roman blurted out.
"I figured that question was coming, come on, let's set sail. I'll tell you on our way."
Timi crossed the hull and lowered the sails. Immediately, the ship was sucked into the sea. The lone rope tying the ship to the shore extended.
Emma ran to the edge of the ship and tried to remove the rope, but the tension hardened it to a ridiculous degree. Knowing they weren't coming back, Emma summoned her spear and slashed the rope.
The ship buckled and rocked forward, but eventually settled down as it left the island's radius. In the distance, Emma watched the island grow smaller.
The palm trees shrunk to palm bushes, the fallen mountain faded to a fallen hill, and the canyon became nothing more than a crack. They were leaving, journeying into the unknown sea, praying they'd make it back in one piece.